A display device such as, for example, a liquid crystal display device includes a backlight, and a display panel that displays an image by modulating the light of the backlight. A technique has been developed for realizing a variety of display performances in such a display device by turning-on/off the backlight in synchronization with the timings of displaying images.
The publication of the Japanese Patent No. 3912999 discloses, as an example of the same, a field sequential liquid crystal display device that realizes color display by using a backlight that is capable of emitting light of red, green, and blue colors in a time-division manner and a liquid crystal panel in combination so as to cause the switching of the liquid crystal elements and the light emission of the backlight to be synchronized with each other.
Further, JP-A-2003-60944 discloses that a field sequential liquid crystal display device is used in an electronic camera that has a monitor screen capable of displaying a picked-up object image. This liquid crystal display device has such a configuration that the display mode can be switched between a color display mode for performing color display by switching the turning on of the backlights of the respective colors of R, G, and B and the display of the liquid crystal shutter panel at a high speed, and a monochrome display mode for performing only the display by the liquid crystal shutter panel without turning on the backlights. This allows the electronic camera to operate with low electric power consumption even in a state where the display of the monitor screen is turned on.